Thieon smirked as he realized Radais' deception. That clever little whelp. It had been too long since the Dragonslayer had been in a good fight. He quickly reshaped the earthen spike he used against the decoy to form a protective shield. Radais’ fireball hit with a loud *THUD*, and then there was an *FWOOOSH* as the explosion spilled around either side of the impromptu stone shield. The Dragonslayer spared himself from harm, but his bandit allies hadn’t been so lucky. They screamed and cried out as they felt the hot, stinging kiss of the flames.
As soon as the sphere detonated, Zhanatos leapt into action. He pulled his greatsword back as he willed his metal magic to reshape the blade into links of a chain with a pointed tip. “Power Chain Dragon yeet!” He cried out as he whipped the chain sword forward, plugging the tip into the ground, and used it as an anchor to pull himself towards the enemy as he leapt. The combination of the powerful leap and pull allowed him to cover the distance to the disoriented bandit troop in the blink of an eye. He quickly metal-shifted his chain sword into a long thin katana-like blade and swiped across the enemy cluster in a wide arc.
Thieon was quick enough to push himself back with his dais of earth, though he sensed the tip of Zhanatos’ blade slice through it. The bandits that had been around him, some of whom were still reeling from the fireball, felt the cold sting of steel as the blade sliced through them. Of the ten that had stood a moment ago, four were dead, another three were rolling on the ground still trying to put themselves, the remaining three having managed to avoid the worst of both fire and blade charge at the berserker.
Zhanatos metal-shifted his blade into a wide greatsword board and sharp enough to be both sword and shield. There was a loud *CLANG* as he parried the first attack and then dodged another with a quick backstep.
On the other side of the battle, Xion had already focused her magic into a pair of spells; the first she sent forth was a spark of lighting in the form of a small sphere that looked a bit like a Willow-o-wisp. By design, the spell blinked and flickered to draw the gaze of onlookers as a heartbeat later it exploded into a bright blinding flash.
The bandits attacking from the rear already had bows and crossbows raised; most had intended to fire the moment a battle began, but the lustre of gold from Radais’ illusion had pulled them out of the combative mindset just long enough for them to lower their weapons. As they tried to raise them again to fire, Xion's spark flared, blinding them all, and causing some of their shots to go wild.
Larxene had fought with Xion often enough to know her opening salvo in advance. She squeezed her eyes shut and focused her wind magic into a circling cyclone around them to act as a shield. The groans of pain from the blinded bandits told her when it was safe to look. She glanced down and saw an arrow that had missed her foot by less than an inch. She breathed a small sigh of relief.
Next, Xion concentrated the swirling shards of ice she had conjured earlier into a billowing mist and kneeled down. She placed her palms on the dirt and channelled her ice magic into freezing the air moisture into a solid barrier. As she raised her hands, a thick wall of ice, at least a good two feet wide, big enough for her and Larxene to take cover behind, rose into place.
The blinding effect of the Flash-wisp spell wore off. The bandits armed with melee weaponry, six in total, charged forward as their friends with bows and crossbows reloaded to fire the next volley.
Larxene redirected her wind magic so it was blowing directly towards the charging foes, it wasn’t strong enough to stop them, but it did cause a few stumbles giving her a chance to pull back the string on her rune-bow as she drew the string back, magic arched and swirled where she pinched the line forming an arrow of pure magic. There was a loud *thwhip* as she released her hold, causing the arcane arrow to slam into the chest of the first bandit. Before he even hit the ground, she had already aimed, pulled the string, and fired a shot at the second target.
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By the time the second body hit the dirt, the remaining four hesitated, pausing mid-stride to debate continuing the charge or retreat. That hair-thin instant of hesitation cost one of them their life as an arrow struck a third target down. The fourth had a sudden realization, ‘Maybe it WAS worth giving honest work a shot after all’. He screamed, ‘I give up’, dropped his blade, and took off running. Larxene briefly wondered if shooting him in the back would still add to the ‘bandit kill count’ in her Arcane Record, but it was only a passing thought. She might have been a thief, but shooting a fleeing enemy was beneath her.
The remaining two rushers pulled back to the treeline and dove for cover as the shooters fired off a second volley.
Xion rested her back against her ice wall as it was belted with bolts and arrows. She took a cleansing breath as she tried to focus. She had just cast two very powerful spells back to back and needed a moment to regain her focus. She peered across the battlefield. Six of the bandits on the boy’s side were already downed. Zhanatos looked as if he were gleefully trading blows and outmanoeuvring the remaining four. The berserker’s strength wasn’t just in swinging his blade; he was also remarkably quick, light on his feet, and clever enough to keep moving so the bandits couldn’t surround him.
Radais and Theion had drifted away from the rest of the battle to focus on a one-on-one duel. The dragon prince seemed to be struggling. While he was the most scholarly of the group, Radais lacked the combat experience of his friends. But if he could just hold out long enough for Xion and the rest of the guards to finish off the bandits then the whole team would rally against the Dragonslayer. Xion conjured another spark of lighting into the tip of her fingers and poured her magic into it. She pointed at one of the bandits and fired an arcing bolt of bright blue lightning at them, which then jumped to a second target. The spell wasn’t powerful enough to kill either foe outright, but the electricity coursing through them caused their muscles to seize up, stunning them. A quick follow-up strike from Zhanatos ended them both.
Larxene was busy shooting it out with the remaining six bandits on her side. After their first charge failed, the bandits changed their tactics. Three had large wooden shields and were providing mobile cover for the other three as they fired off bolts and arrows. They were trying to break through Xion’s barrier by peppering it with one volley after another, which caused the ice to crack and chip away. Their shields were enchanted, so the magical arrows from the Corsair’s rune-bow merely deflected off. It was time to change tactics.
The Corsair dipped below the cover and willed her rune-bow to shift from short bow to longbow. The longbow form had a longer and heavier draw, meaning (as the name implied) it was for longer shots which would require more thrust to cover the extra distance; however, if used properly, that extra range could be used as extra penetration instead. Larxene drew one of the trick arrows from the quiver at her hip. She nocked the arrow and pulled the bow to tension as she stood. She aimed to make sure her wind was still blowing directly past her toward the target and then released her shot. As the arrow flew, the fletching magically spiralled open like the petals of a rose, creating a wider surface area to catch the tailwind pushing it forward with even greater momentum. The sharpened metal tip of the arrow cut through the bandit’s wood shield like a nail driven by a hammer straight into the target’s chest, causing him to fall backwards onto his shooting partner.
Xion followed up the attack with her version of the same trick, a hardened sharp spike of ice that flew from her outstretched hand and slammed into the second shield with a loud *THUNK*. The attack hadn’t been strong enough to penetrate straight through, but the rattling impact was enough to spook the bandit into dropping his shield and then turning to run, leaving his ranged buddy to be easily picked off with a follow-up shot.
Larxene swore as the remaining pair dropped their weapons and turned to sprint away.
“What’s wrong?” Xion asked, confused by her friends' anger at what would seem to have been their victory.
“I need one last shield penetration shot to unlock a new ability.” The Corsair grumbled as she manifested her Arcane Record and showed the progress bar of ‘Shield penetrating shots: Nine of Ten Reward: Armor Piercing technique’. She thought about shooting one of the discarded shields on the ground but knew it wouldn’t count. For whatever reason, achievements couldn’t be ‘faked’. They only counted if the acts were performed during genuine life-threatening combat. Larxene always assumed it was just the will of the gods.